Arm protector for medical use

ABSTRACT

The invention is a water impervious sleeve adapted to be placed on an arm of a patient that has a catheter installed therein. There is an arm band at each end of the sleeve. Each of the arm bands includes an elastic section. Each of the arm bands further includes an adjustable section which is used to adjust the effective force that is exerted on the catheter as it exits from one of the arm bands. An additional foam rubber wedge is installed in each of arm bands in a location to surround the catheter to effectively seal the catheter and the sleeve from any water entering into the sleeve.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to a sleeve for protecting an armof a wearer from contact with fluids, dirt or other matter that may havean adverse effect on a medical condition. This medical condition may bea catheter that is installed in a vein of the user. It is of an extremeimportance that such a medical condition be protected from any bacteriaor other matter that may come in contact with a location on the arm of awearer where a catheter including a needle is introduced into the skinof the wearer whereby serious consequences may be experienced leading toinfection and other maladies. The presence of a catheter creates certaindifficulties to keep the area affected clean because the catheter has tobe guided outside of the protective sleeve leaving possible openings atthe ends of the sleeve where the catheter exits the sleeve.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

[0002] Numerous attempts have been made to protect the arm of a user forvarious reasons.

[0003] U.S. Pat. No. 924,545 discloses an elastic cuff and sleeveprotector that relates to a sanitary protector that can easily be placedover a cuff and sleeve to protect the same while the hands are beingwashed. At both ends of the sleeve there gripping portions 4 and 5. Thegripping portions may not be suitable because of the presence of thecatheter in applicant's device that pinch the catheter tube as it exitseither end of the protective sleeve.

[0004] U.S. Pat. No. 3,657,741 illustrates a surgical sleeve made of afluid impervious material and is adapted to cover the forearm portion ofa surgeon's gown to prevent fluids from penetrating to the surgeon'sgown and arm. There is an elastic portion at each end thereof to holdthe sleeve tightly against the wrist and the upper arm. Any catheterpassing through either end of the sleeve will be pinched to a pointwhere the catheter is ineffective.

[0005] U.S. Pat. No. 3,721,997 illustrates a protective garmentcomprising a seamless, transparent, plastic body of tubular designhaving gathered elastic loops at the opposite ends thereof. The garmentis designed to prevent soiling of a garment over which this garment isbeing worn.

[0006] U.S. Pat. No. 4,843,653 shows a wrist protector having weltstherein for the purpose of keeping the hand of a user dry and forblotting perspiration from the face and the forehead while in a play.This disclosure is far removed from applicant's subject matter.

[0007] U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,112 shows a device in the form a protectivesleeve to prevent snow from penetrating between the glove and the coatof an individual. This then is a protective over sleeve worn over agarment of a skier. The sleeve has elastic portions 18 and 19 whicharound a garment which is worn underneath the protective sleeve. Thelongitudinal zipper 20 aids in putting the sleeve.

[0008] U.S. Pat. No. 5,628,062 represents an arm sleeve worn on a personwhile driving and having one arm exposed to the sun while driving. Thematerial represents a sun block sleeve for UV protection.

[0009] U.S. Pat. No. 5,644,793 exhibits a protective sleeve that is madeof a laminated material with a thin layer of moisture impermeableplastic film on the inside and a layer of absorbent paper toweling onthe outside. The sleeves include separate elastic and expandable bands22 that may be slipped over the sleeve at the wrist and an upper armportion.

[0010] U.S. Pat. No. 5,924,130 discloses a protective sleeve that isdesigned to avoid certain liquids from reaching the skin of the wearer.Such liquids are caustic or acidic solutions. Such sleeves may includeelastics 9 which may be included in various layers 1 and 2 of thesleeve.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011]FIG. 1 shows the overall combination of a sleeve placed over acatheter installed in the arm;

[0012]FIG. 2 is a more detailed view of the sleeve;

[0013]FIG. 3 shows a sealing arrangement for the catheter.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0014]FIG. 1 shows the inventive sleeve 1 placed over the upper arm of apatient with the catheter placed under the sleeve while it is installedin a vein of the arm, The protective sleeve may be made of manydifferent material as long as it is light weight and water impervious.The sleeve 1 of FIG. 1 has an upper band 2 and a lower band 3.Associated with the band 2 are pleats 2 a and the same pleats 3 a appearat the lower band 3. The reason for the these pleats is so that thefabric or material of the sleeve may expand or contract when the sleeveis placed over the arm and to accommodate different sizes of an arm, aswill be explained below. As can be seen in FIG. 1 the catheter 4 exitsthe sleeve 1 at its upper band 2, which is used in most instances,however the catheter 4 could also exit at the lower band 3 of the sleeve1, as may be dictated by certain conditions.

[0015] Turning now to FIG. 2 wherein the same reference characters havebeen applied as were in FIG. 1. In FIG. 1 the upper band 2 or the lowerband 3 or both have been modified over what is known in the prior art.

[0016] To this end, experiments have shown that when a conventionalprotective water impervious sleeve had been placed over an arm that hada catheter installed therein, the catheter would be pinched because oftoo much pressure of the total elastic arm bands either at the upperband or the lower band. to alleviate this problem, an elastic section 5has been installed in either the upper or the lower bands 2 and 3,respectively. In addition an adjustable section has been added to thearm bands 2 and 3. In this way, when the protective sleeve 1 is placedover an ram having a catheter implanted therein, the pressure on thecatheter can be regulated or adjusted simply by adjusting the adjustablesection to a degree whereby the elastic section enough pressure torender the bands of the sleeve water proof but does not exert enoughpressure on the catheter to render it useless or ineffective for itsintended purpose. As can be seen in FIG. 1, an elastic section 5 hasbeen included in the arm bands 2 and 3 and the adjustable sections areshown as the female loop fasteners 7 b of the well known VELCRO™fastening system while the adjustable strip 6 b has the hook elements ofthe hook and loop fastening system thereon In this manner, when thesleeve 1 is placed over the arm of a patient, the pressure on thecatheter is adjustable simply be moving the adjustable 6 a or 6 b ontodifferent positions on the loop sections 7 a or 7 b of the respectivearm bands 2 and 3.

[0017]FIG. 3 shows and additional feature of the protective arm sleevein that a further safeguard against leakage in the area of the catheter4 has been installed or included. To this end, a wedge shaped foamrubber piece 8 has been added which has a slit provided therein whichends in a through hole through the wedge. The through hole snuglyreceives the catheter and will prevent any leakage altogether.

What is claimed is:
 1. A water impervious sleeve adapted to be placed onan arm of a patient having a catheter installed thereon, said sleevehaving at least one arm band at one end thereof to surround said arm,said sleeve having pleats surrounded by said arm band, said waterimpervious sleeve having an elastic section included in said at leastone arm band, including an adjustable section in said at least one armband adapted to adjust the effective force of said elastic section andthereby the pressure of said catheter exiting from said at least one armband.
 2. The water impervious sleeve of claim 1, wherein said adjustablesection consists of a hook and loop type fastening system.
 3. The waterimpervious sleeve of claim 1, wherein a wedge of a foam rubber typematerial has been placed within said at least one arm band at a locationto surround said catheter exiting from said at least one arm band. 4.The water impervious sleeve of claim of claim 1, wherein said at leastone adjustable arm band is placed at both ends of said sleeve.